I  yv 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA  agricultural  Experiment  Station 

COLLEGE    OF    AGRICULTURE  E,    W.     HILGARD,     DIRECTOR 

BERKELEY,   CALIFORNIA 


CIRCULAR  No.  J. 

(June,  1903.) 

CONTAGIOUS  ABORTION  IN  COWS. 

By  PROFESSOR  JAMES   LAW,  F.R.C.V.S., 

Director  of  the  New  York  State  Veterinary  College,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 


Introductory  Note. —  Frequent  applications  to  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
of  the  University  of  California  for  information  concerning  contagious  abortion  in  cattle, 
indicate  that  the  disease  is  a  serious  one  in  California,  as  is  true  in  other  dairy  regions  of 
the  United  States  and  Europe.  In  response  to  these  frequent  demands  for  aid,  the  fol- 
lowing article,  by  an  acknowledged  eminent  authority,  is  presented.  The  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  is  deeply  indebted  to  Dr.  Law  for  his  generous  permission  for  the 
reprinting  of  this  product  of  his  pen.  The  control  of  contagious  abortion  is  a  trouble- 
some matter,  requiring  the  exercise  of  numerous  precautions,  the  neglect  of  any  one 
of  which  may  nullify  all  previous  efforts.  Dr.  Law  has  achieved  marked  success,  by 
the  methods  to  be  hereinafter  mentioned,  among  animals  quite  closely  restrained  as  in 
the  dairies  of  New  York  State.  The  article  was  written  with  reference  to  Eastern  con- 
ditions, and  doubtless  some  of  his  suggestions  may  require  considerable  modification 
to  fit  California  practice. 

ARCHIBALD  R.  WARD,  Veterinarian. 

FORMS    OF    ABORTION. 

Cows  are  liable  to  abortion  from  a  great  variety  of  causes,  some  of 
which,  like  mechanical  injuries,  are  purely  individual  to  the  animal  and 
show  little  tendency  to  extend  to  other  members  of  the  herd.  Other 
forms  attack  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  herd  at  the  same  time,  or 
in  succession,  and  thus  appear  as  if  they  partook  of  a  contagious  char- 
acter. In  many  such  cases,  however,  the  implication  of  a  number  of 
pregnant  cows  in  the  same  herd  is  only  a  common  result  of  a  special 
injurious  condition,  to  which  all  are  alike  exposed,  and  the  removal  of 
this  is  the  signal  for  the  disappearance  of  the  disease.  Thus  unwhole- 
some food  of  all  kinds  which  undergoes  fermentation  in  the  first 
stomach,  causing  the  accumulation  of  gas  (bloating),  will  at  times  cause 
a  widespread  abortion.  The  consumption  of  ice-cold  water  usually  stimu- 
lates the  womb  to  contraction  and  the  unborn  calf  to  active  movements, 
which  can  be  easily  observed  in  the  right  flank.  This,  frequently 
repeated  or  carried  to  excess  in  susceptible  animals,  will  at  times  cause 


abortions.  The  consumption  of  irritant  vegetables,  which  have  a 
special  tendency  to  act  on  the  kidneys  or  womb,  are  causes  of  general 
abortions  in  herds. 

Ergoted  grasses  have  long  been  known  as  causes  of  abortion,  and  the 
same  remark  applies  to  smut  and  several  other  fungi.  It  is  true  that 
these  cryptogamic  vegetable  products  vary  much  in  their  character  and 
strength  according  to  the  variations  of  the  season  and  the  local  condi- 
tions under  which  they  grow,  as  well  as  the  time  or  stage  at  which  they 
are  harvested,  so  that  the  ergots  and  smuts  of  one  year  appear  to  be 
comparatively  harmless,  while  those  of  another  year  or  season  or 
locality  are  very  injurious.  The  fact  remains,  however,  that  under 
given  conditions  of  growth  they  are  unquestionably  causes  of  abortion, 
and  in  such  cases  the  abortions  are  widespread  in  the  herd  or  in  differ- 
ent herds  in  the  same  district.  Cases  such  as  these  are  easily  mistaken 
for  contagious  ones,  though  there  is  in  the  system  of  the  aborting 
animal  no  self-propagating  germ  which  would  produce  the  disease  if 
transferred  to  another  animal. 

Still  other  conditions  may  produce  widespread  abortions  in  the 
absence  of  any  specific  contagious  germ.  On  the  magnesian  limestones 
of  New  York,  cows  are  very  subject  to  small  stones  in  the  kidneys  dur- 
ing the  dry  feeding  of  winter,  and  when  this  is  added  to  other  existing 
causes,  like  the  riding  of  cows  in  heat,  attacks  made  with  the  horns  of 
their  fellows,  squeezing  in  half-closed  gates,  over-driving,  sloping  stalls, 
or  too  laxative  food,  abortions  are  likely  to  be  induced.  In  other  sus- 
ceptible animals  the  proximity  to  a  slaughter-house,  the  sight  and 
smell  of  dead  carcasses,  or  carrion,  etc.,  will  excite  a  pregnant  cow  to 
abortion. 

The  Contagious  Form. — Any  of  the  usual  causes  of  sporadic  or 
accidental  abortion  may  co-exist  with  the  true  contagious  element  and 
give  unusual  energy  to  it,  yet  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  identify 
the  contagion  in  all  cases  in  which  it  is  present  as  the  essential  cause. 
This  can  usually  be  done  by  a  careful  inquiry  into  the  history  of  the 
outbreak. 

When  a  herd  has  been  continuously  healthy  up  to  the  time  of  the 
introduction  of  a  cow  brought  from  a  herd  where  abortion  has  been 
prevailing,  and  when,  following  her  advent,  one  and  another  and  another 
of  the  original  numbers  of  the  herd  abort,  without  any  apparent  cause 
in  the  way  of  change  of  feed,  water,  barn,  stalls,  or  general  management, 
the  evidence  of  the  introduction  of  the  element  of  contagion  by  the  cow 
in  question  is  very  circumstantial  and  forcible.  If  pregnant  cows 
standing  next  to  the  new  cow,  or  near  to  her,  are  among  those  that  early 
abort,  the  argument  for  contagion  is  still  further  corroborated.  If  the 
trouble  continues  in  the  herd  year  after  year,  attacking  fresh  animals 
some  months  after  purchase,  the  case  becomes  still  stronger. 


Or  take  another  case.  A  cow  is  sent  from  a  herd  to  be  served  by  a 
bull  which  has  been  allowed  to  serve  an  aborting  cow,  and  her  resulting 
pregnancy  is  terminated  by  abortion  before  the  regular  time,  and  this 
is  followed  by  successive  abortions  by  different  animals  in  the  previously 
healthy  herd.  Upon  the  face  of  it,  an  outbreak  of  this  kind  is  mani- 
festly contagious,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  other  appreciable  cause  for 
the  trouble,  it  may  be  safely  held  to  be  so. 

Or,  a  bull  is  brought  from  a  herd  where  abortions  have  taken  place, 
and  after  his  arrival  the  cows  begin  to  abort,  the  first  cases  being  in 
those  which  the  new  bull  has  served.  The  occurrence  is  manifestly  due 
to  contagion. 

Or.  a  newly  purchased  cow  aborts  and  is  disposed  of  in  consequence, 
and  another  cow,  placed  in  the  same  stall,  in  due  time  aborts  also,  and 
others  follow  in  due  time,  especially  those  that  stood  next  to  or  near  to 
this  stall.     Everything  points  to  an  introduced  contagion. 

Such  indications  might  be  varied  indefinitely;  all  variations,  however, 
having  the  one  thing  in  common,  that  the  evidence  of  infection  stands  out 
prominently  and  unmistakably.  The  infection  may  have  been  evidently 
carried  by  the  tail,  tongue,  soiled  stall,  litter,  gutter,  rubbing  post,  fence, 
or  other  object,  yet  the  fact  of  contagion  can  be  demonstrated  with 
reasonable  certainty. 

These  conclusions  have  been  repeatedly  affirmed  by  actual  experi- 
mental transmission.  The  Scottish  Abortion  Commission  found  that 
healthy,  pregnant  cows  often  escape,  though  standing  near  to  an  aborting 
cow,  but  that  when  a  piece  of  cotton  wool  Avas  inserted  in  the  vagina  of 
the  aborting  cow  for  twenty  minutes,  and  was  then  transferred  to  that 
of  the  healthy  one,  the  latter  invariably  aborted.  Galtier  found  that 
the  infecting  vaginal  mucus  of  the  aborting  cow,  when  transferred  to 
the  same  passage  in  other  animals,  caused  abortion  in  the  sow,  ewe, 
goat,  rabbit,  and  guinea-pig;  whilst  if  it  was  intensified  by  passing 
through  the  rodents,  it  would  similarly  affect  the  mare,  bitch,  and  cat. 

Bang  subjected  two  cows,  which  were  three  months  pregnant  and  had 
come  from  healthy  herds,  to  repeated  vaginal  injections,  with  the 
products  of  culture  of  the  abortion  bacillus  in  serum-glycerine-bouillon. 
Three  injections  were  made  on  April  14th,  May  23d,  and  June  4th,  and 
on  June  24th  one  cow  aborted.  The  other  was  ill,  and  when  killed  she 
was  found  to  carry  a  dead  foetus.  Pure  cultures  of  the  abortion  bacillus 
were  found  in  foetal  membranes  and  liquids  of  both  animals. 

Casual  Infections. — In  a  case  which  came  under  the  observation  of 
the  writer  recently,  a  family  cow,  kept  in  a  barn  where  no  abortion  had 
previously  occurred,  was  taken  for  service  to  a  bull  in  a  herd  where 
abortion  was  prevailing,  and  though  she  was  only  present  at  the  latter 
place  for  a  few  minutes,  she  aborted  in  the  sixth  month. 


_  4  — 

Another  cow,  from  the  same  aborting  herd,  was  taken  into  another 
herd  at  a  distance  of  about  two  miles,  and  where  abortion  had  been 
unknown  up  to  that  time,  and  some  months  later  a  cow  standing  in  the 
next  stall  to  her  aborted.  The  remainder  of  this  herd  was  sold  soon 
after,  so  that  the  further  progress  of  the  disease  could  not  be  easily 
followed. 

Jansen,  as  quoted  by  Sand,  reports  the  case  of  a  cow  from  an  aborting 
herd  having  been  taken  into  a  herd  that  had  been  previously  quite  free 
from  the  disease.  Soon  after  her  arrival  she  aborted,  and  later  cow  after 
cow  of  the  original  herd  aborted.  The  owner  kept  the  matter  secret, 
and  sent  his  cows  to  a  neighbor's  bull  for  service,  with  the  result  that 
for  two  years  abortion  prevailed  among  cows  served  by  this  bull. 

Tobiassen  quotes  the  case  of  a  cow  in  an  aborting  herd,  which  calved 
a  fortnight  before  the  regular  time.  The  calf  was  at  once  sent  to 
another  farm  where  no  abortions  had  occurred,  and  placed  in  the  same 
building  with  the  pregnant  cows,  all  of  which  later  aborted.  The  out- 
break thus  started  lasted  for  several  years. 

J.  R.  Jansen  reports  that  a  cow  brought  from  an  infected  farm,  for 
fattening  purposes,  proved  to  be  pregnant  and  finally  aborted,  and  that 
twenty-four  of  the  pregnant  cows  on  the  farm  aborted  in  the  same  year. 

Morck  reports  that  a  cow  which  had  aborted  a  fortnight  previously 
was  taken  to  a  farm  where  abortions  had  never  been  known.  She 
aborted  during  her  next  pregnancy,  and  so  did  all  of  the  herd,  nine  in 
number. 

Christensen  records  the  occurrence  of  a  general  abortion  in  a  pre- 
viously healthy  herd,  members  of  which  had  been  sent  for  service  to 
the  bull  of  a  neighboring  aborting  herd. 

Uygaard  reports  that  a  bull  from  a  healthy  herd,  but  which  had  been 
allowed  to  serve  some  cows  from  a  neighboring  infected  herd,  was  sold 
to  go  on  a  previously  healthy  farm,  where  he  was  put  to  fourteen  cows 
only.  Of  these,  twelve  aborted;  while  the  other  cows,  served  by  another 
bull,  remained  well. 

Cases  like  the  above  are  not  to  be  explained  by  some  imaginary 
unwholesome  conditions  of  the  environment,  since  in  every  instance 
the  surroundings  of  the  animals  and  the  conditions  of  life  remained 
the  same,  and  the  only  appreciable  cause  of  the  outbreak  in  every  case 
was  the  contact  with  an  animal  from  an  aborting  herd. 

Experimental  Infections. — Any  possible  doubt,  however,  may  be  re- 
moved by  the  cases  of  experimental  transmission  of  the  disease,  by  the 
transference  of  the  mucus  from  the  vagina  of  an  aborting  cow  to  the 
vagina  of  a  healthy  pregnant  one.  The  experiments  of  Bang  have 
been  already  quoted. 

The  Scottish  commission  (Woodhead,  McFadyean,  and  Atkin)  took 


10 

—  5  — 

a  pregnant  cow  from  a  healthy  herd  and  placed  her  in  a  stable  where  a 
large  number  had  aborted.  They  also  inserted  into  the  vagina  of  this 
cow  a  plug  of  cotton  wool,  which  had  been  left  for  twenty  minutes  in 
the  vagina  of  a  cow  which  had  recently  aborted.  This  was  repeated  the 
next  day,  the  plug  being  left  in  the  vagina  for  several  hours  on  each 
occasion.  Within  a  month  some  indications  of  a  threatened  abortion 
showed  themselves,  and  a  seven  months'  calf  was  dropped  on  the  seven- 
tieth day  after  the  inauguration  of  the  experiment. 

In  a  second  experiment,  a  cow  six  months  in  calf  and  taken  from  a 
healthy  herd  was  placed  in  a  stable  with  an  aborting  herd  and  a  quan- 
tity of  vaginal  mucus  from  a  cow  which  had  recently  aborted  was 
injected  under  the  skin  of  the  vulva.  She  calved  prematurely  at  the 
end  of  the  eighth  month. 

Williamsen  when  treating  a  herd  for  abortion  took  a  piece  of  the  after- 
birth of  an  aborting  cow  and  rubbed  it  on  the  vagina  of  a  healthy  cow 
of  his  own,  which  had  a  habit  of  carrying  her  calf  fourteen  days  over- 
time. Five  days  after  she  had  premature  parturition.  He  took  a  frag- 
ment of  the  foetal  membrane  from  the  cow  just  named  and  rubbed  it  on 
the  vagina  of  a  pregnant  cow,  condemned  to  slaughter  for  tuberculosis. 
In  seventeen  days  the  cow  aborted. 

Abortion  Germ. — A  number  of  investigators  have  sought  assiduously 
for  the  germ  of  abortion.  More  than  twenty  years  ago  Franck  attrib- 
uted the  disease  to  loptothrix  vaginalis,  a  spherical  organism  united  in 
chain  form. 

The  Scottish  Abortion  Commission  isolated  no  less  than  five  different 
bacteria  from  the  abortion  membranes  and  vaginal  mucus,  but  failed  to 
identity  any  one  of  these  as  the  essential  cause  of  the  disease. 

Nocard  found  in  the  fibrino-purulent  matter  between  the  chorion  and 
womb,  in  aborting  animals,  two  different  organisms,  a  micrococcus 
(globular  microbe)  isolated  or  united  in  chains  of  two  or  three,  or  more, 
and  a  short,  thin  bacillus  (rod-shaped  microbe)  isolated  or  attached 
together  in  pairs.  These  he  did  not  find  in  healthy  pregnant  cows. 
They  seemed  to  have  no  evil  influence  on  the  animal  in  the  intervals 
between  pregnancies,  so  he  concluded  that  they  caused  disease  of  the  foetus 
and  foetal  membranes  alone  and  did  not  affect  the  womb  of  pregnant  ani- 
mals. He  allows,  however,  that  the  germ  can  survive  in  the  unimpreg- 
nated  womb  until  the  next  pregnancy,  and  may  thus  be  kept  up  for 
years  in  the  same  animal. 

Galtier,  on  the  other  hand,  has  conveyed  the  disease  by  feeding  and 
inoculation  of  the  milk  or  abortion  membranes,  to  the  sheep,  goat,  pig, 
rabbit,  and  guinea-pig,  and  claims  accordingly  that  the  disease  is  one 
affecting  the  general  system  of  the  pregnant  animal  and  that  the  germs 
can  be  conveyed  through  the  blood  to  the  womb.     He  claims  that  the 


—  6  — 

germ  is  intensified  in  force  by  passing  through  the  body  of  the  rabbit 
or  guinea-pig,  and  can  then  infect  horses,  dogs,  and  cats. 

Chester,  of  the  Delaware  College  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
found  in  the  placentas  of  aborting  cows  a  bacillus,  which  in  form  and 
habit  of  growth  closely  resembled  the  common  bacillus  of  the  large 
intestine  (Bacillus  coli  communis) .  In  the  fermentation  test,  however, 
it  showed  a  marked  difference  from  the  colon  bacillus,  to  which  it  seems 
to  be  so  closely  allied.  Inoculated  on  rabbits  it  was  not  fatal.  Injected 
into  the  vagina  of  a  pregnant  cow,  it  caused  slight  discharge  for  four  or 
five  days,  but  the  calf  was  carried  to  full  time — six  and  one  half  months 
after  the  injection. 

Bang  found  in  aborting  cows,  between  the  womb  and  the  foetal  mem- 
branes, a  considerable  odorless  liquid  exudate  of  a  gelatinoid  appearance, 
and  some  pus  cells.  There  wTas  active  catarrh  of  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  womb,  which  continued  after  abortion  and  often  maintained  the 
disease  into  the  next  pregnancy.  In  the  exudate  was  an  abundance  of 
very  small  bacilli,  which  stained  deeply  with  aniline  colors,  excepting 
in  a  vacuole  or  nucleus  which  was  less  highly  colored.  This  bacillus 
grew  well  in  serum-glycerine-bouillon,  and  more  sparingly  in  serum- 
gelatin-agar.  In  the  latter,  it  showed  a  remarkable  peculiarity  in 
growing  with  special  luxuriance  in  different  zones  at  two  separate 
depths,  beneath  the  surface,  while  there  was  an  intervening  clear  space 
in  which  little  or  no  growth  took  place.  This  preference  for  two  differ- 
ent grades  of  abundance  of  atmospheric  air  and  rejection  of  the  inter- 
vening grade  serves  to  identify  the  bacillus  in  a  very  striking  manner. 
Injected  into  the  vagina  in  two  pregnant  cows  from  healthy  herds  it 
produced  abortion  in  one  on  the  twenty-first  day,  and  death  of  the  calf 
without  prompt  abortion  in  the  second.  It  also  induced  uterine  catarrh 
and  abortion  in  ewes,  rabbits,  guinea-pigs,  and  mares,  when  it  was 
injected  into  the  vagina.  In  several  cases  in  which  it  was  injected 
under  the  skin  or  into  the  veins,  it  was  later  found  in  abundance  in  the 
interior  of  the  womb  and  the  foetal  membranes  and  bowels  of  the  foetus. 
It  can  therefore  live  in  the  blood  and  pass  from  that  to  the  womb  to 
start  its  baneful  work  there. 

Dr.  V.  A.  Moore  and  the  present  writer  have  made  a  series  of  experi- 
ments at  the  New  York  State  Veterinary  College.  We  have  found  in 
the  foetal  membranes  and  uterine  mucus  of  a  number  of  aborting  cows, 
in  different  counties  of  the  State,  and  situated  widely  apart  from  each 
other,  a  bacillus  which  in  form  and  culture-experiments  closely 
resembles  Bacillus  coli  communis.  This  was  nearly  always  found  in 
pure  cultures;  in  a  few  cases  only  were  other  microbes  found,  and  these 
only  such  as  are  found  in  a  healthy  vagina.  It  was  never  found  in  the 
foetal  membranes,  nor  in  the  mucus  of  the  womb  in  cows  which  had 
come  to  the  period  of  parturition  in  healthy  herds.     It  agreed  in  most 


respects  with  the  bacillus  found  by  Chester,  but  differed  somewhat  in 
fermentation  tests.  It  differed  also  in  being  fatal  to  rabbits  when 
inoculated  on  these  animals.  Injected  into  the  vagina  of  three  preg- 
nant cows,  it  continued  to  live  on  its  lining  membrane,  producing  more 
or  less  catarrh  and  mucopurulent  discharge  in  the  different  cases,  yet 
all  three  carried  their  calves  to  the  full  time  as  judged  by  the  forward 
condition  of  the  teeth,  one  having  calved  on  the  123d  day,  the  second 
on  the  167th,  and  the  third  on  the  190th  after  injection. 

The  investigations  at  the  Delaware  College  Experiment  Station  and 
the  New  York  State  Veterinary  College  indicate  that  the  contagious 
abortion  which  was  met  with  in  the  cows  of  these  States  is  essentially 
different  from  the  forms  studied  in  Europe  by  Nocardand  Bang,  respec- 
tively. The  facts  that  thesame  germ  was  found  alone  or,  exceptionally, 
along  with  the  normal  microbes  of  the  healthy  vagina  in  the  womb  of 
every  aborting  cow,  and  that  it  was  not  found  in  the  healthy  cow  which 
had  calved  at  full  time,  and  that  the  generative  passages  were  the  seat 
of  a  catarrh,  alike  in  the  cows  that  aborted  and  in  those  that  were 
injected  with  cultures  of  the  germ  found  in  the  womb  of  the  aborting 
animal,  are  virtually  all  but  conclusive  that  this  microbe  is  the  essential 
cause  of  the  abortion. 

The  fact  that  abortion  has  not  so  far  occurred  in  the  pregnant  cows 
injected  experimentally  with  the  artificial  cultures  of  this  germ,  only 
serves  to  show  that  under  certain  conditions  the  microbe  operates 
slowly.  In  our  cases  the  cows  were  dry  during  nearly  the  whole  course 
of  the  experiment,  and  stood  quietly  in  stalls,  so  that  there  was  little 
accessory  cause  to  assist  in  precipitating  abortion.  It  is  further  worthy 
of  note  that  in  the  form  of  abortion  habitually  prevalent  in  New  York, 
it  is  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  that  the  period  of  incubation 
often  extends  to  the  sixth  month.  In  a  recent  case  which  came  under 
the  observation  of  the  present  writer,  and  in  which  the  cow  contracted 
the  infection  by  the  service  of  a  bull  in  a  neighboring  aborting  herd,  the 
abortion  took  place  at  the  sixth  month  of  pregnancy.  In  our  experi- 
mental cases,  it  was  certain  that  the  same  bacillus,  which  was  alone 
found  in  the  aborting  womb  and  which  was  present  there  in  great 
abundance,  remained  present  in  the  generative  passages  of  the  infected 
animals  up  to  the  time  of  parturition  and  thereafter. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  recent  bacteriological  investigations  of 
the  disease  in  Europe  show  that  the  pathogenic  germ  is  present  in  large 
numbers  in  the  digestive  organs  of  the  calf,  that  the  new-born  calf  can 
convey  the  disorder  into  a  fresh  herd  (Sand),  and  that  the  viable  calves 
of  infected  cows  are  liable  to  die  from  intestinal  disorders  a  few  days 
after  birth.  Galtier,  the  Marquis  de  Poncius,  and  Pry  insist  strongly  on 
this.  On  a  farm  on  the  estate  of  the  Marquis,  where  abortion  has  pre- 
vailed for  over  twenty  years,  calves  of  infected  cows  show  at  birth  or 


very  shortly  after  symptoms  of  broncho-pneumonia  and  of  a  complica- 
tion of  nervous  disorders.  They  are  breathless,  wheeze,  discharge  from 
the  nose,  cough,  scour,  have  convulsions  and  other  nervous  troubles. 
A  large  proportion  of  such  calves  die,  and  their  lungs  are  found  in 
part  red,  consolidated  and  destitute  of  air,  while  the  air  tubes  contain  a 
mucopurulent  liquid.  Lesions  denoting  inflammation  of  the  pleural 
covering  of  the  lungs,  of  the  liver,  and  of  the  intestines  are  common. 

This  coincidence  of  a  fatal  disease  in  many  of  the  surviving  calves  has 
not  been  specially  noticed  in  the  aborting  herds  in  New  York.  Should 
it  be  found  to  be  wanting  or  infrequent,  it  will  establish  still  another 
distinction  between  the  European  abortions,  as  noticed  by  Nocard, 
Galtier,  Bang,  and  others,  and  the  American  type,  as  observed  in 
Delaware  and  New  York. 

In  investigating  this  subject  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  any 
catarrhal  condition  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  uterus  hinders  con- 
ception, and  becomes  a  direct  cause  of  abortion,  and  that  the  forms  of 
invasion  of  the  womb  by  pus-producing  germs  are  as  numerous  as  the 
number  of  different  irritant  germs  that  can  live  in  the  membrane.  The 
question  as  to  how  many  of  these  may  induce  contagious  abortion  is  to 
be  determined  by  the  susceptibility  of  the  membrane  to  the  attack  of 
each  particular  germ,  and  whether  the  latter  can  retain  all  its  power  of 
survival  and  virulence  in  passing  from  one  animal  to  another.  The 
presumption  is,  therefore,  in  favor  of  a  variety  of  forms  of  contagious 
abortion,  each  due  to  its  own  specific  microbe  or  microbes  rather  than 
of  a  single  unvarying  type  of  the  disease.  It  is  the  work  of  the  future 
investigator  to  demonstrate  the  extent  and  nature  of  such  variations, 
and  to  place  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  each  on  a  substantial  basis. 

The  indication  that  there  are  probably  at  least  two  forms  of  contagious 
abortion  in  cows  raises  the  question  whether  both  are  to  be  found  in 
our  American  herds,  and,  if  not,  whether  there  is  not  an  urgent  demand 
for  such  a  rigid  quarantine  and  inquiry  into  the  condition  of  all 
imported  cattle  as  will  establish  a  reliable  barrier  against  the  more 
dangerous  foreign  disorder?  No  less  impoitant  is  it  that  we  should 
recognize  the  presence  of  the  more  dangerous  disease,  if  it  should 
already  have  a  foothold  in  American  herds,  and  trace  its  cause,  nature, 
and  diagnostic  symptoms,  so  that  the  treatment  appropriate  to  each 
individual  outbreak  may  be  promptly  and  intelligently  applied.  The 
tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  lost  every  year  through  the  prevalence  of 
contagious  abortions  in  the  dairy  herds  of  New  York  would  justify  a 
liberal  outlay  to  establish  our  knowledge  and  practice  on  a  rational  and 
scientific  foundation.  In  Europe  the  loss  on  each  aborting  cow  is  set 
at  from  $12  to  $25  per  annum. 

Do  the  Same  Animals  Abort  Several  Years  in  Succession? — The  ques- 
tion of  persistent  abortion,  year  after  year,  by  the  same  cow,  is  one  of 


—  9  — 

far-reaching  importance.  If  a  first  contagious  abortion  entails  a  second, 
a  third,  a  fourth,  and  a  fifth  in  the  same  animal,  in  as  many  successive 
years,  then  manifestly  her  preservation  is  a  mere  squandering  of  money, 
apart  from  the  danger  of  her  transmitting  the  disease  to  other  and 
healthy  animals.  If,  however,  on  the  other  hand  she  herself  fails  to 
abort  the  second  or  the  third  year,  yet  if  she  continues  to  carry  in  her 
generative  passages  the  germs  of  the  malady,  as  potent  as  ever  for  evil 
to  other  pregnant  cows,  her  preservation  in  her  present  condition  is  a 
hidden  source  of  the  infection,  that  can  still  spread  from  her  to  all  new 
and  susceptible  cows  which  may  be  added  to  the  herd. 

It  was  long  supposed  that  repeated  abortion  for  an  indefinite  number 
of  successive  years  was  inevitable  in  the  animal  which  was  once 
infected.  There  is  no  doubt  that  certain  cases  give  color  to  this  belief. 
In  an  organ  so  nervously  susceptible  as  the  womb,  there  is  always  a 
tendency  to  repeat  the  abortion  under  the  stimulus  of  a  new  pregnancy 
and  the  gradual  distension  and  development  of  the  uterine  walls.  Yet 
statistics  show  that  this  only  applies  to  a  small  proportion  of  cows,  and 
these  the  most  excitable  and  nervous.  The  tendency  toward  insuscep- 
tibility to  the  deleterious  action  of  the  germ,  which  still  may  be  present, 
is  in  the  cow  greater  as  a  rule  than  the  disposition  toward  a  nervous 
increase  of  the  susceptibility.  The  difficulty  in  reaching  a  conclusion 
on  this  point  depends  on  the  fact  that  stock-owners  very  commonly  dis- 
pose of  aborting  cows,  and  as  the  freshly  bought  cows  are  sooner  or 
later  attacked,  it  is  too  confidently  assumed  that  the  old  cows,  too, 
would  have  aborted  had  they  been  retained.  Many  years  ago  observant 
New  York  dairymen  had  noticed  that  the  same  cow  rarely  aborted  over 
three  years  in  succession  and  the  majority  not  over  two.  Quite  recently 
the  owner  of  a  large  herd,  who  had  had  much  experience  with  the 
disease,  assured  me  that  the  rule  was  that  a  cow  did  not  abort  a  second 
time.  The  continuance  of  abortion  in  the  herd  was  mainly  among 
newly  purchased  cows,  and  others  that  had  not  been  previously  attacked. 
The  same  is  measurably  true  of  the  European  abortions.  Nocard  says 
that  after  three  to  five  years  there  is  an  acquired  immunity.  Penberthy 
says  that  in  case  of  repeated  abortion  in  the  same  cow,  the  calf  is 
carried  longer  each  successive  year  until  it  comes  to  its  full  term. 
Sand,  in  his  symposium  of  the  experience  of  Danish  veterinarians, 
says  it  is  quite  exceptional  that  a  cow  should  continue  to  abort,  but 
outbreaks  of  abortion  disappear  spontaneously  if  no  new  cows  are 
brought  in. 

In  the  main  this  is  indorsed  by  the  experience  of  Bang.  In  a  herd 
of  two  hundred  head,  in  the  course  of  several  years,  eighty-three  aborted 
in  their  first  pregnancy,  and  of  these  only  twenty  aborted  in  the  second, 
and  seven  failed  to  breed.  Counting  these  latter  as  having  aborted, 
this  amounted  to  less  than  one  third,  while  over  two  thirds  of   the  cows 


—  10  — 

which  aborted  the  previous  year  carried  the  calf  the  full  time.  In  the 
herd,  only  thirty  aborted  for  two  successive  years,  and  only  six  for  three 
years  running. 

Paulsen  quotes  the  case  of  a  herd  of  sixteen,  seven  of  which  were  sent 
for  service  to  a  bull  in  an  aborting  herd.  All  seven  aborted:  five  at 
ten  weeks,  one  at  three  months,  and  one  at  four  and  a  half  months 
before  the  normal  period  of  parturition.  One  of  the  seven  was  sold,  but 
the  remaining  six  went  full  time  in  the  following  year. 

Morck  records  the  case  of  a  herd  of  sixteen  cows,  of  which  the  majority 
aborted  the  same  year.  The  owner  disposed  of  all  the  aborting  animals 
and  replaced  them  by  others  freshly  purchased.  Next  year  the  new 
stock  aborted,  together  with  some  of  the  cows  that  had  been  held  over. 
He  continued  this  course  for  eight  years  without  any  improvement,  and 
then  decided  to  keep  the  aborting  cows,  as  well  as  the  others.  In  two 
years  the  affection  disappeared  from  the  herd. 

Such  small  herds,  in  which  all  become  early  infected,  and  in  which 
there  are  not  yearly  additions  of  young  animals  in  their  first  pregnancy, 
nor  the  opportunity  for  a  continuous  extension  into  new  animals  that 
have  previously  escaped  infection,  furnish  a  better  opportunity  than  do 
the  larger  herds,  to  trace  the  acquirement  of  artificial  immunity. 

PREVENTION    AND    TREATMENT. 

Admitting  the  frequency  of  acquired  insusceptibility,  we  have  to 
guard  more  against  repetition  of  abortion  in  the  same  cows.  To  protect 
the  new  stock  against  infection,  however,  it  becomes  necessary  to  purge 
from  the  infection  all  cows  which  still  harbor  the  germ  in  their  genera- 
tive passages,  though  they  do  not  themselves  any  longer  abort.  It  also 
becomes  necessary  to  guard  against  infection  through  stalls,  bulls,  etc., 
from  such  infected,  but  no  longer  aborting,  cows. 

The  following  was  written  with  reference  to  conditions  in  New  York 
State,  and  portions  of  the  suggestions  are  inapplicable  to  cattle  upon 
the  ranges  in  California. 

Upon  the  following  there  can  be  no  dispute: 

First — The  cow  which  shows  symptoms  of  abortion  should  be  at  once 
removed  from  the  others,  and  her  stall,  including  the  gutter  and  drain 
leading  from  it,  thoroughly  disinfected. 

Second  — Every  cow  which  has  aborted  should  be  instantly  removed 
from  the  stable  into  a  separate  building,  and  her  stall,  with  its  gutter 
and  drains,  thoroughly  disinfected. 

Third — The  aborted  foetus,  with  its  membranes,  should  be  at  once 
removed  and  burned  or  boiled,  or  deeply  buried  after  it  has  been 
sprinkled  with  chlorid  of  lime  or  other  active  disinfectant. 


—  11  — 

Fourth — The  manure  from  the  infected  stable  should  be  taken  into 
an  inclosure  to  which  no  cows  have  access,  and  freely  watered  with  a 
solution  of  sulfate  of  copper  (one  ounce  in  one  quart  of  rain  water). 

Fifth — The  cow  which  has  aborted,  and  those  standing  on  each  side 
of  her,  should  have  the  external  generative  organs,  the  adjacent  parts 
of  the  thigh,  and  the  whole  length  of  the  tail  sponged  every  morning 
with  the  solution  of  one  ounce  of  sulfate  of  copper  in  one  quart  of 
water. 

Sixth — The  cow  that  has  aborted  or  is  suspected  of  abortion,  and 
which  has  been  isolated  from  the  herd  in  a  special  stable,  should  have 
its  stall  carefully  cleaned,  scraped,  and  watered  daily  with  the  sulfate 
of  copper  solution.  Her  manure  and  urine  must  be  carefully  disin- 
fected, as  provided  above. 

Seventh — In  case  that  more  than  one  animal  has  aborted  in  a  herd 
or  stable,  it  is  desirable  to  sponge  the  external  generative  organs,  hips 
and  tails  of  the  whole  herd  daily  with  the  sulfate  of  copper  solution, 
and  to  disinfect  the  hind  parts  of  the  stalls,  the  gutter,  and  the  drains 
every  morning,  as  prescribed  above. 

Eighth — Further  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  the  infection  into  a 
herd,  all  newly-purchased  cows  should  be  put  at  first  in  a  separate  quar- 
antine stable,  and  be  subjected  to  daily  disinfection  of  the  external  parts, 
and  the  stalls.  As  each  cow  comes  in  at  full  time,  and  without  any 
further  indication  of  disease,  she  may  be  transferred  to  the  stable 
occupied  by  the  general  herd. 

Ninth — In  purchasing  a  bull  the  greatest  care  must  be  taken  to  see 
that  he  comes  from  an  absolutely  sound  herd,  and  that  he  had  not  been 
allowed  to  serve  cows  from  a  herd  where  abortion  exists.  It  is  a  safe 
precaution  to  wash  his  sheath  with  the  disinfectant  liquid  and  to  inject 
it  freely  with  the  same  before  beginning  to  use  him  in  the  herd.  He 
should  be  allowed  to  serve  no  cows  from  outside  the  herd,  unless  it  can 
be  shown  that  they  are  from  herds  that  are  absolutely  free  from  abortion. 

By  a  rigid  application  of  the  above  measures  the  extension  of  conta- 
gious abortion  in  a  herd  can  be  certainly  prevented,  and  the  rule  being 
that  the  majority  do  not  abort  a  second  time,  the  disease  can  in  this  way 
be  got  rid  of. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  in  an  infected  herd  there  will 
always  be  a  certain  number  of  pregnant  animals,  in  which  the  germ  is 
alwrays  lodged  deeply  in  the  vagina  and  even  in  the  womb,  and  these 
measures  can  not  prevent  the  occurrence  of  abortion  in  their  cases. 
There  is  also  the  danger  in  a  certain  limited  number  of  those  which 
have  a  tendency  to  abort  a  second  time,  that  the  germ  will  continue  to 
live  throughout  the  following  year  in  the  interior  of  the  womb,  and  not 
only  cause  another  abortion  in  the  individual  cow,  but  start  the  infec- 
tion anew  in  other  members  of  the  herd. 


—  12  — 

There  is  some  danger  of  such  survival  even  in  a  cow  which  has  become 
herself  immune  so  that  she  will  carry  her  calf  to  full  time  and  yet  infect 
other  susceptible  cows  which  may  be  exposed  more  or  less  directly  to 
her  discharges.  It  is  for  such  cases  that  medication  by  the  mouth  and 
injections  into  the  vagina  or  womb  have  been  resorted  to. 

Tenth — Among  medicines  used  to  check  abortion  by  acting  on  the 
general  system  are  viburnum  prunifolium  and  potassium  chlorate,  which 
can  hardly  be  upheld  as  disinfectants,  but  act  only  on  the  nervous  sys- 
tem or  on  the  general  health.  Carbolic  acid,  one  of  the  latest  fads,  is 
employed,  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  intent  of  checking  the  propagation 
of  the  contagious  element.  Diluted  in  water  so  as  to  be  non-irritating, 
it  has  been  injected  daily  under  the  skin,  for  a  length  of  time  and  with 
alleged  good  results.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  when  the  good 
effects  have  been  apparently  most  constant  the  animals  have  at  the  same 
time  been  subjected  to  very  careful  and  continuous  external  disinfection, 
which  in  itself  is  amply  sufficient  to  account  for  the  favorable  applica- 
tions, the  results  have  been  much  less  favorable.  Thirty-seven  Danish 
veterinarians  employed  it  in  ninety-two  separate  herds,  with  results 
that  were  apparently  good  in  forty-seven  cases,  doubtful  in  twenty,  and 
negative  in  twenty-five.  Thirteen  other  veterinarians  who  have  em- 
ployed it  extensively  report  the  results  as  doubtful  or  negative.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  a  majority  of  these  practitioners  abandoned  a  method 
which  in  theory  must  be  looked  on  as  unpromising  and  which  proved  so 
uncertain  in  actual  practice. 

Eleventh — The  other  resort  is  a  priori  more  promising,  consisting  as 
it  does  in  the  application  of  a  disinfectant  to  the  infected  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  generative  organs.  The  two  agents  most  in  use  are  carbolic 
acid  and  mercuric  chlorid. 

Carbolic  acid,  which  is  the  less  dangerous  agent,  is  prepared  by  add- 
ing one  troy  ounce  and  a  half  of  the  acid  to  a  gallon  of  water,  together 
with  a  troy  ounce  of  carbonate  of  soda.  This  is  injected  daily  for  a 
week,  through  a  large  syringe,  or  an  elastic  rubber  tube  introduced  into 
the  passage  and  having  a  funnel  inserted  in  its  outer  end,  which  is 
carried  two  feet  higher  than  the  root  of  the  tail.  A  quart  may  be 
employed  at  each  injection  and  it  should  be  used  milk-warm. 

The  mercuric  chlorid,  the  more  poisonous  of  the  two  agents,  is  used 
in  a  solution  of  one  drachm  to  the  gallon  of  water,  to  which  is  added  a 
drachm  of  hydrochloric  acid.  This  is  used  milk-warm  in  the  same  way 
as  the  carbolic  acid  solution.  This  is  very  corrosive  as  well  as  poison- 
ous, and  must  be  kept  in  a  wooden  vessel,  safely  locked  up  from  man 
and  animals. 

The  writer  has  used  such  injections  in  aborting  animals  and  herds, 
and  at  the  same  time  with  the  daily  disinfection  of  the  external  parts 


—  13  — 

of  the  generative  organs,  the  stalls,  gutters,  drains,  and  manure,  and 
with  perfect  success  where  it  could  be  thoroughly  carried  out. 

It  is  subject  to  the  serious  objection  that  it  causes  active  straining 
when  the  injection  is  administered,  and  if  this  becomes  extreme,  it  may- 
create  apprehension  that  it  will  precipitate  abortion  rather  than  obviate 
it.  This  has  led  Nocard  and  others  to  abandon  the  injections  and  to 
rely  altogether  on  external  disinfectants.  For  pregnant  animals  this  is 
to  be  commended,  as  the  disinfectant  can  not  penetrate  and  disinfect  an 
already  infected  womb,  and  is  therefore  not  likely  to  prevent  an  abor- 
tion when  the  germ  has  already  gained  that  cavity.  In  the  cow  that 
has  just  aborted,  on  the  other  hand,  the  danger  of  injury  from  this 
cause  is  reduced  to  the  minimum,  and  the  disinfectant  injection,  thrown 
into  the  depth  of  the  womb  itself,  offers  the  only  hope  of  a  speedy  dis- 
infection of  that  cavity.  The  external  application  merely  prevents  the 
access  of  new  germs  from  without,  while  those  that  are  within  are  left 
to  be  destroyed  by  the  unaided  action  of  the  lining  membrane  of  the 
womb.  That  this  action  is  usually  slow  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
abortion  germs  habitually  live  for  a  length  of  time  in  the  vagina  and 
womb,  before  producing  abortion,  and  that  they  often  continue  to  live 
there  much  longer  unless  preventive  measures  are  resorted  to.  In  the 
animal  which  has  aborted  some  time  before  and  which  is  still  unim- 
pregnated,  injections  are  equally  commendable.  It  may  not  be  admis- 
sible in  this  case  to  introduce  the  liquid  into  the  womb,  but  even  if 
limited  to  the  vagina,  the  resulting  disinfection  is  highly  advantageous 
in  cutting  off  this  source  of  renewed  infection  for  the  uterus,  and  placing 
the  organ  in  a  much  more  favorable  position  for  the  destruction  of  the 
bacilli  which  it  contains. 

Conclusion. —  In  conclusion,  it  may  be  stated  that  this  subject  still 
offers  an  extensive  field  for  profitable  investigation,  and  that  we  should 
not  rest  satisfied  with  the  partial  knowledge  already  attained,  but  push 
our  inquiries  in  new  directions  when  there  is  a  good  prospect  of  securing 
the  means  of  a  fuller,  more  perfect,  and  more  easily  available  control  of 
this  great  source  of  loss  to  our  dairy  interests.  The  form  or  forms  of 
contagious  abortion  in  our  home  herds  should  be  fully  investigated  and 
the  conditions  of  the  life  and  propagation  of  the  germs  more  definitely 
determined,  and  the  same  should  be  secured  for  other  forms  which  may 
not  as  yet  be  indigenous  to  the  United  States,  but  which  are  likely  to 
be  introduced  through  the  medium  of  importations.  Our  dairy  industry 
is  one  of  the  most  important  of  our  sources  of  income,  and  a  moderate 
outlay  for  an  investigation  which  will  render  that  safer  and  more 
remunerative,  or  which  will  protect  it  against  threatened  dangers  from 
without,  must  prove  an  important  measure  of  natural  economy. 


Sacramento: 

W.     SHANNON,         -        SUPT.    STATE    PRINTING. 
1  903. 


I  '   \ 


